CuriousCat Archive Page 116 of 202

  1. Where do you stand on the Oxford comma debate?

    in a non-prescriptivist, I-agree-with-the-logic-and-like-the-aesthetics kinda way, I'm pro

  2. is there any credence whatsoever to the idea that there may be grifters on the online/YouTube left?

    the fact that it's always credible doesn't mean there's evidence

  4. Is it normal, as a center-leftist, to get an overpowering, irresistible urge to want to punch a comrade in the mouth because of a take on Twitter that, while technically “woke”, is so reductive, hostile, and just plain snake-fuckingly mean that it genuinely boggles me that people liked it in the hundreds?
    Such as, for example, stating that every single soldier who has ever served in the US military in ANY capacity is automatically a monstrous murderer who deserves to be tried and executed at The Hague, and even rejecting veteran comrades.
    I mean, I understand and even sympathize with the sentiment behind the statement, there is absolutely NO shortage of soldiers who fit the bill, AND the opposite extreme is certainly one of the worst things ingrained into the American mindset (even if most troop lover types decidedly do NOT actually care about or even like the average soldier), BUT does it really justify any of these things they say? Like, at all?

    I mean... there is a certain brand of Twitter Leftist who likes to make their argument in the most hyperbolic way imaginable. Like, they can't criticize an institution without demonizing the people in it, because it's hard to make enemies of systems and I guess some folks just need enemies.

    But, at its core, this is the same argument as "All Cops Are Bastards." It's not *really* a criticism of the troops so much as an indictment of the institution they are part of. They've just focused on the people in an unhelpful and frankly kinda dipshit way because, I dunno, they need or prefer humans to fixate their anger on.

    But I've also seen the opposite argument: that hating on the troops is classist, you can't judge poor and working class people for what they do to survive under capitalism, and troops should feel zero guilt over their actions if there were few other options. And the argument that "it's fine to help kill a million Iraqis if you're broke" seems pretty fucking unconscionable as well.

    In general, I hate the way passionate political discourse seemingly requires a lack of nuance. I wish I knew how to get people to care strongly about things while also dealing with the moral messiness of the world we've found ourselves in. It's hard to rally people around "All Cops And Troops Are Part Of An Immoral System Not Of Their Making And Their Complicity In It Is Neither Wholly Forgivable Nor Wholly Damning."

  5. Is there anybody you're aware of born before the 20th century you wish was as commonly known or mythologized as, say, Christopher Columbus?

    Ada Lovelace comes to mind

  6. How do you get over the nervousness of making something?

    in response to I've actually been thinking of starting a blog. Has been making co-vids and TARPB been therapeutic for you at all?

    Some tricks I learned from doing theatre:

    - When you're backstage and it's almost your cue, tell yourself, "I''m not nervous. I'm just EXCITED." They feel similar enough that you can trick your brain into recontextualizing your feelings.

    - Forget about the audience and focus on the people onstage with you. You're doing this for you; the audience is incidental. (Especially easy with blogs and YouTube because, odds are, no one will see your earliest work.)

    - Rehearsal. You have a lot of time to practice before you go public, to internalize it, get comfortable with it. But you also have an immovable deadline. You're nervous now, at the beginning, because you haven't started the work and are already thinking about opening night. But, by the time you've finished the work, you will know it inside and out and be a lot more comfortable with it. Maybe not *confident*, but at least *familiar*. It will feel like a thing, not a half-formed idea. (But give yourself a deadline so you don't work on it forever.)

  7. Have you ever seen good faith response videos from other left wing channels?

    what do you mean by "response video" in this context? Folding Ideas just did a video on flat Earthers that is, in part, a response to Hbomb's and PhilosophyTube's videos on flat Earthers. not sure that's the kinda thing you're referring to, though.

  8. I've actually been thinking of starting a blog. Has been making co-vids and TARPB been therapeutic for you at all?

    in response to I'm somewhat new to left-wing ideology. I have definitely been center-left most of my life, but during the pandemic I have really doubled down into looking into systemic problems with the US and the "western" world. I find myself getting very angry both when reading the news, but also when reading political science/history/media analysis. Any advice for not losing one's mind at the vast injustice going on? I know I have the privilege to be able to temporarily ignore these things (I'm cis, white, raised middle class, and straight passing) but it feels wrong to do so.

    Yes. Making stuff is how I keep myself sane. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride - after Trump was elected, TARP was very much what I needed to do, and, when the 'rona hit, *stopping* TARP for a while to do CO-VIDs was what I needed. But it's always a question of *what* to make, not *whether* to make.

  9. Any subject matters you've actively decided not to make videos on?

    There were a buncha topics from back when I was primarily a gaming channel that I never got around to. There was a thing about microconsoles, and a lot more stuff about adventure game design, but the ambitions of the channel kept growing and they just seemed too niche in comparison. But most things I've thought about making are still floating around, less "decided not to make" and more "haven't made yet."

  10. I'm somewhat new to left-wing ideology. I have definitely been center-left most of my life, but during the pandemic I have really doubled down into looking into systemic problems with the US and the "western" world. I find myself getting very angry both when reading the news, but also when reading political science/history/media analysis. Any advice for not losing one's mind at the vast injustice going on? I know I have the privilege to be able to temporarily ignore these things (I'm cis, white, raised middle class, and straight passing) but it feels wrong to do so.

    have you tried starting a youtube series?

  11. However, it would take time for them to taint it as well as they have the word "socialism", and in the meantime policies could be passed...

    in response to Would it be fair to say that the biggest obstacle to the spread of socialist ideas in America is the name “Socialism” itself? Like I feel the name is too tainted in the eyes of most voters to be redeemed.

    ah, yes, like when we said "Black lives matter" and we had months of racial justice before they tainted the phrase.

    (that was sarcasm)

  13. how are police "nonprofit"? they literally exist to defend profit

    in response to Such as? Because corruption would certainly involve some monetary form

    I'm not arguing the police are nonprofit, I'm pointing out ways institutions can be corrupt even in ways that don't make them money

  14. What's a not very well made/designed game that would be very educational to research some?

    Trespasser

  15. Such as? Because corruption would certainly involve some monetary form

    in response to So how would a nonprofit be corrupt if they have no use of any excesses? Or are there any other factors that makes a nonprofit corrupt?

    universities that bias admission towards white students are corrupt. police that ignore assaults when they're reported by women are corrupt. prisons that deny hormones to trans inmates are corrupt.

    you can take money out of the equation and there are still forms of political and social currency that can be unequally divided.

  17. Do you have an onlyfans? if not, would you ever consider having one if the fans demanded it enough?

    before I answer, how much demand do you feel there is?

  18. In "One Billion Americans" Yglesias appropriates right wing fears about birth rates and international competition to try to sell progressive policies.

    Do you think this is good strategy?

    "good strategy" and "Matt Yglesias" don't really belong in a sentence together

  19. But aren't most revolutions "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"?

    in response to Is the state's monopoly on violence good?

    some are, some aren't. not sure I could definitively agree with "most."

  20. How do we really know that's all he does tbh?

    in response to Dude Notch has 1.6 Billion dollars. He can do whatever the fuck he wants, what makes you think he wouldnt be happy?

    look, fam, Notch was on the internet before, during, and after the creation of Minecraft, and, the more money he got, the more his internet presence turned sour and miserable. it's kinda hard to believe he got angrier in public but secretly got happier in private; unhappy tweeting is usually a symptom of an unhappy existence.

  21. Would it be fair to say that the biggest obstacle to the spread of socialist ideas in America is the name “Socialism” itself? Like I feel the name is too tainted in the eyes of most voters to be redeemed.

    it is tainted in the eyes of voters because capitalists deliberately tainted it. call it something else and they'll taint that, too. we need to stop blaming language what is caused by ideology; we're not going to fix the world through rebranding.

  22. As a straight person, can straight people be attracted to non-binary people? Do you need to stop calling yourself straight if you're into an nb person out of respect to their gender, or is it inappropriate to claim queerness just because you're into 1 nb person?

    If you're a man who's attracted to women, but then the person you're dating stops identifying as a woman, does that make you no longer straight? Does their change in identity overwrite yours? Is it presumptive to call yourself queer? Is it negating their identity to call yourself straight?

    There are no easy answers. Edge cases are complicated, and all we can do is navigate them to the best of our abilities. You talk openly with all the people involved about your feelings and identities and try to find something that works.

  23. But which one you're siding with? Liberals or socialists?

    in response to Liberalism or Socialism? And why?

    liberals are capitalist

    socialists are anti-capitalist

  25. Often, I come across (supposedly, you can never know for sure) leftists Twitter accounts that almost solely consists of making of fun of leftists - sorry, "liberals" - hot takes; and I'm confused as to why they exists (and are so popular) Are these basically cringe reaction videos in Twitter forms?

    some leftists need an enemy, and there's a market for providing them

  26. Do you think "white guilt" is a useful concept?

    yuh

  27. Happy sad songs or sad happy songs?

    why yes, I *am* a fan of They Might Be Giants, how could you tell?

  28. Oh great White-guilt reliever, I pray to thee once more:
    -Is Cards Against Humanity an acceptable Problematic Fave?

    no

    you are banished

  29. Do you think a talented enough rhetorician exists at this time?

    in response to Is there any utility to broad questions like "would sex work exist in a moneyless society" or "would people transition if there was no construct of gender," even though they are most often asked in bad faith by TERFs and SWERFs? Can they be divorced from that context and used to start meaningful discussions?

    I'm sure many do, or can be made with the right practice and training

  30. Would Emperor suffice?

    in response to Could you elaborate on this?

    we define labels, labels don't define us

  32. Does the principle of there being no such thing as an anti-war film apply to other genres, like anti-gangster films or crime documentaries?

    that observation comes from Truffaut, who said to depict something is to ennoble it, so, inasmuch as is true, it is true of everything

  34. Is there any utility to broad questions like "would sex work exist in a moneyless society" or "would people transition if there was no construct of gender," even though they are most often asked in bad faith by TERFs and SWERFs? Can they be divorced from that context and used to start meaningful discussions?

    Using bad faith arguments as a jumping off point can be useful, provided you create the right context around them. Like, when I get them here, the person sending it is (usually) anon so I'm not meaningfully platforming them, and I decide whether or not the post gets forwarded to Twitter so I determine the size of the audience. And I can take as long as I want carefully crafting a response. I have a lot of control over what kind of impact it has.

    I think you have to be a *very* talented rhetorician to pull that off in a debate.

  35. Is the state's monopoly on violence good?

    if it were a monopoly we wouldn't have revolutions

  36. Have you ever written a letter to Congress or Gabe Newell?

    I've left phone messages for Congresspersons, never sent a letter.

    Nothing to Gabe.

  38. In a parallel world where there was more genetic differentiation between haplogroups than within them, how do you think your own way of looking at the world would change (if at all)?

    in response to Does the left argue genetic/evolutionary differences don't exist, or that they should not matter, that is, that even if they existed(note the hypothetical) that would not warrant ostracising exceptions? (definitely a test, that I am genuinely sure you will pass with ease)

    I'm really not sure what the value of this question is.. Seems like a setup for "but if Black people WERE inferior, wouldn't it make sense to be racist?"

  39. If I say that I should not have been born, is that eugenics?

    that's dysgenics because you're amazing

  40. Would you be interested in providing a voice reading of a comment/quoted passage for a video essay I'm currently in the process of writing?

    who are you?

  41. Should government fund sex work?

    government should guarantee a standard of living for every citizen so that sex workers are never pressured to take a client they would otherwise turn down just to make rent

  42. I highly recommend Infinity Train. It's 3 seasons, 10 episodes per season, 10 minutes per episode, so not a huge time investment. It's an anthology where each season has it's protagonist. It has a shockingly mature take on emotional themes. I'm sorry this isn't a question, but it's so insanely good, you need to see it.

    I think I saw the pilot before it was turned into a series! Looked neat.

  43. What is a nonprofit? (Different anon here by the way, im from Costa Rica)

    in response to Can nonprofits be corrupt?

    A nonprofit is a type of organization that is agrees not to turn a profit in exchange for certain types of grants. I've worked with a few. Basically, any extra money they make after clearing expenses, they have to find a use for it; no one is allowed to take the excess home. They tend to be organizations built for some kind of "benefit to society"; a lot work in education, public health, minority rights, that kinda thing.

  44. Liberalism or Socialism? And why?

    capitalism bad

  45. Can nonprofits be corrupt?

    yup

  46. Answering this one a few days after this seems smart:
    Was there a slight boost of views of You Go High We Go Low as a result of current events, and looking at watch time metrics, was at least some of that "just watch the first 5 minutes of this video to remember what happened"

    I did get a bump, in no small part because I boosted it myself on Twitter. Average view duration *was* lower than usual - it's usually ~54% and the last three days it's been ~39%.

  47. Speaking as a fat person (330 lbs, 5'9"), I'm ambivalent towards 'fat acceptance' or whatever it's being called these days. On the one hand, we live in a capitalist hellscape that uses salt and sugar to train us to be constantly hungry for unhealthy, cheap foods and are so overworked and overstressed that cooking healthy meals has become a privilege, so destigmatizing fatness as a moral failure is something we need to do. On the other hand, the "you're fine the way you are!" drivel rings hollow when my joints hurt, I have no energy, and my self-confidence and sex drive have been neutered for years.

    in response to Is it mostly just down to the context it's said? "My body has fat" vs "I'm fat" or something? If you have resources worth reading hmu

    1) your health problems are not ameliorated by people treating you like garbage for being fat
    2) "fat" and "unhealthy" are not synonyms, and it is possible to be fat and healthy. if you are having health problems, then you may choose to lose weight, but there are people who have good joints, high energy, self-confidence, and good sex who are also fat. bodies are weird and different people have different health needs. fatness may be bad *for you*, but that doesn't make it bad.

  48. Is it possible to be a racist socialist?

    I would love to say "racism creates second-class citizens, so a classless society must also be an antiracist one, therefore if you are a racist you cannot be a socialist," but that's not really the popular definition of "socialism" and feels like no-true-Scotsmanning the streak of anti-social justice leftists we're contending with

  50. Blood would be ten times better without the hitscan fanatics.

    Like PLEASE TELEGRAPH UNDODGEABLE ATTACKS

    in response to But we all agree Blood is best tho

    Blood: Fresh Supply has customizable difficulty where you can lower the cultist's aggression or accuracy but keep everything else up.

  51. Could it be the Antifa video by Philosophy Tube, by any chance?

    in response to I remember a statement along the lines of "there is always violence, the only question is who is experiencing the violence" in the context of protests and I think it might have been in one of your videos but I'm not sure. Do you happen to know what I'm talking about and can point me in the right direction?

    I linked to the video they were referring to. Olly's video made a similar argument but more in the context of government as a whole, not about nonviolent protest in specific.

  52. She-ra is so good, you should watch it.

    it'll probably happen sooner or later

  53. Dude Notch has 1.6 Billion dollars. He can do whatever the fuck he wants, what makes you think he wouldnt be happy?

    in response to “MoNeY CaNt BuY hAppINeSS” But would you rather be sad and rich than being sad and poor??

    He can do whatever the fuck he wants and all he does is find things to yell about on Twitter. I remember him when he was just a dude on TIGSource working on a game that hadn't come out yet. He seemed a lot happier.

  54. Hey remember when I was like "big lefty web accounts should be promoting federal house and senate races" you should do that on twitter I think that'd be nice

    To simply share Congressional candidates, I'd want to vet each candidate before promoting them, and that's a lot of research into individual states' politics that I don't have context for. If anyone has a resource that has done that work already - which I imagine many have - I would love to share that.

  55. Do you know any good jokes?

    "where's my lemon cookie?"

  58. Do you think it's mean when people mistake you for Dan or Michael from Vsauce? Secondly, do you ever want to replace Michael as "the dude who everyone mistakes others for", aka "the default character in an RPG"?

    I've never been *mistaken* for Michael, just compared to him. Most times people mix me up with Dan (or sometimes Chris from Errant Signal or even Mike from Idea Channel) it's a genuine mistake and I admire all those guys so I take it as a funny compliment. It's only mean when reactionaries try to dig at me with something they think I'm sensitive about that doesn't apply because they've mixed me up with someone else. And, in those cases, the mix-up isn't the mean part. (And it's also funny.)

  59. But we all agree Blood is best tho

    in response to Quake or Duke nukem 3d? (Putting aside Duke was made but transphobes, just making a conjecture here, but I know what they think about women in general.)

    I've been playing Blood recently, and replayed Quake a bit to capture footage for the last video. I'll say I'm enjoying Blood a bit less than the last time I played it, but I enjoyed Quake quite a bit less, so maybe.

    I think I genuinely like modern games that harken back to the 90's more than a lot of 90's shooters.

  60. Opening line for a dating app?

    "I'll make you soup when you're sick"

  61. Does the left argue genetic/evolutionary differences don't exist, or that they should not matter, that is, that even if they existed(note the hypothetical) that would not warrant ostracising exceptions?
    (definitely a test, that I am genuinely sure you will pass with ease)

    antiracists (who are on the left but, sadly, do not fully encompass it) argue that genetic/evolutionary differences exist but are not meaningfully correlated to skin tone, and that there is more genetic differentiation within haplogroups than between them

  62. Should we normalise using *fat* as a neutral word and not as an inherently derogatory descriptor?

    yes, and we are already working on it

  63. “MoNeY CaNt BuY hAppINeSS”

    But would you rather be sad and rich than being sad and poor??

    buddy, do you think Notch is happy?

  64. have you ever played any of the experimental doom engine games JP LeBreton made? also if he ever sees your co-vid will he forgive you for butchering his name?

    https://twitter.com/vectorpoem/status/1307004662051082245

    also, look, I misspoke and said JB instead of JP which is embarrassing but I think I pronounced LeBreton the right way even if it's not how everyone says it!

  65. Do you ever go to the hardware store and look at pails in comparison? Or does that pale in comparison?

    you should stretch before making a reach like that

  66. What's the next CO-VID gonna be

    I'll never tell

  67. Do you think there is any hope, if Trump is re-elected and continues to stymie climate action, that the rest of the world will stop following the USA's example and follow through on transitioning to sustainability without us?

    I don't get the sense that the rest of the world was waiting on the US? The US didn't ratify the Kyoto Accord, but it proceeded without us.

  68. What do you think of the term "Karen," and how it's used to describe anything from racism to a type of haircut?

    it was only a matter of time til you asked this, Karen

  69. Does the status quo need to justify itself or do people need to justify deviating from the status quo?

    Objectively? The first thing.

    How do people operate by default? The second thing.

  70. How would you "carefully and systemically destroy and replace capitalism"?

    in response to Coming from the uk, where after a freedom of information request revealed that the 'ceremonial' monarch kills legislation by fiat constantly, they made information about *what* she does or doesn't have an active involvement in a state secret, and so immune to FOI requests Well I don't think that monarchy stories do much either, buuuut #ActivateTheQueen was a comical hashtag used quite in earnest a few times over the last decade and with the implication that she could just flip the political card table over if she wanted and nobody would know what to do next, so to that extent nobody is even sure what powers we would need to return but giving her those back has actual traction that does indeed fluctuate some with pop culture In that spirit, what would your will be if forced onto the throne of the USA for a year? (I dunno, say they turf the giant Lincoln statue out, that throne, there's always a fancy enough chair somewhere)

    carefully

    and systematically

  71. related somewhat: before JKR went full terf I was planning on making a video essay discussing the Fantastic Beasts movies and how I can see what they're trying to do and find that interesting, even if they're not good movies. I shelved it because of her tweets, but do you think it would be wrong if I dusted off my notes and finally finished that video?

    in response to Do you agree with pirating the new Harry Potter video game to avoid putting money into J.K. Rowling's pockets?

    I had a similar debate about discussing Ion Fury in my new video, since I was really unhappy with the transphobic comments the devs posted in their public Discord server, and with how they handled the blowback, and the bit where they got flak for homophobic jokes so they said they'd take them out but then reactionaries demanded they keep them so they did...?!?!

    So, like, do I want to be giving attention to this game, even to criticize it?

    There's the argument that any piece of problematic media must be shunned. There's the counterargument that, under cisnormative, colonialist, capitalist patriarchy, *everything* is problematic, and so deplatforming any one piece of media is pointless. Neither sits right with me. I feel like, while everything is, to a degree, compromised, some things are more compromised than others, and there are things so F'd that you don't give them air, even to critique. Problem is, there's no consensus on where the line dividing the two is. You have to decide where you, personally, are going to draw it.

    I try to juggle as many factors as I can: how much is my purchase of the media helping the creators? how much is my coverage of it boosting its brand? how problematic is the media? how much of my audience might be hurt by me discussing it?

    In my case, I decided the game was already a year old, my CO-VIDs have relatively small viewership by the standards of my channel, I wasn't going to discuss the game without reminding people of the transphobia, and my ultimate stance was that it wasn't even well-designed. On balance, I felt I was saying things of value without meaningfully spreading transphobia or aiding the transphobes.

    But that's subjective! I don't know how to measure whether I was right. I've got a few people who disagree with me, and I see where they're coming from.

    I can't tell you where to draw the line with Rowling. Maybe the discourse you'd bring to the video would help people look at her critically, and your channel would have to be pretty big for it to help her OR hurt her. I think you would at least have a responsibility to talk about the TERFiness, and, woof, there's Johnny Depp to consider, which is... a lot. I dunno, I probably couldn't find a way to enjoy talking about Rowling anymore.

    Regardless, you'll have to decide for yourself. Good luck!

  72. Watched your latest Co-VID. What's your opinion on the two recent Doom games?

    I've played DOOM 2016 but not Eternal. 2016 is fun! I liked the way it handled its worldbuilding, how the player character's derision towards it made it actually kinda fun to read through codex entries and listen to (Hell versions of) audiologs because the game made it *so explicit* that I didn't have to. The actual *plot* didn't really amount to much in the end, but the way it handed out lore that some writers clearly had fun with while also telling you it didn't matter was really engaging! Combat was pretty fun, too, if ultimately same-y.

  73. (different anon) Would you keep Reboot's original animation style, though?

    in response to if you got a free reboot pass whatre you briging back? i think like it would be funny to make a reboot of a show thats still on or like just ended. Steven Universe Reboot 2020 or something. but definetly ben 10 for me.

    I would wanna do it the way you do any throwback - do it the way we remember it, not the way it was. Deliberately evoke the clunkier aesthetic but sweeten it.

  74. Do you agree with pirating the new Harry Potter video game to avoid putting money into J.K. Rowling's pockets?

    I have no dog in this fight because I wasn't gonna play the game anyway.

    But Rowling is already extremely wealthy, boycotting her game isn't hurting her.

  75. Quake or Duke nukem 3d? (Putting aside Duke was made but transphobes, just making a conjecture here, but I know what they think about women in general.)

    Quake.

Anon commented:
Ian replied: